Consumer Litigation

American Medical Security Inc. Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP, along with co-counsel in Florida, successfully prosecuted a Class Action against American Medical Security, Inc. in the state court in West Palm Beach, Florida. We represented a class consisting of people who purchased "Affinity Group" health insurance policies from American Medical. We sued because American Medical was not treating the insurance policies as group policies but rather was re-underwriting each insured, each year, based on their medical condition. As a result, our clients and other class members who were ill faced substantial premium increases - sometimes double from the previous year. This often resulted in their being unable to afford coverage and hence they lost their health insurance.

We prevailed as to liability at trial. See Addison v. Am. Med. Sec., Inc., No. 00-01445 (AB), 2002 WL 1454102 (Fla. Cir. Ct. April 24, 2002). After extensive additional litigation concerning the damages owed to the class, the action was settled for a substantial recovery for the class.

We are as proud of our role in this case as in any other case we have ever prosecuted. As a result of our prosecuting this action, a spotlight was shone on American Medical's unlawful underwriting practices. As a result, American Medical abandoned its practice throughout the United States of annually re-underwriting each Affinity group policy insured. Hence we not only obtained relief for the plaintiffs and Florida class members in our case, we also prevented American Medical Affinity group policy holders throughout the country from experiencing massive rate increases and loss of their health insurance.

Princeton Review, Inc. Data Breach

Shapiro, Haber & Urmy LLP represented a class of students whose school system utilized the test preparation services of a company that allegedly inadvertently made publicly available the social security numbers of students on its website for a period of several weeks. The class asserted claims for negligence, breach of contract and unfair trade practices. Shapiro, Haber & Urmy LLP promptly negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of the class, securing the company's agreement to provide comprehensive identity protection services to the class members to be provided by another company that specializes in those services. The relief includes, among other things, two to three years of credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and call center services.

TJX Data Breach Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP filed a class action against TJX Companies, Inc. ("TJX"), in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, on behalf of all customers of TJX's retail stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, which include T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Bob's Stores, and A.J. Wright, whose personal or financial data was stolen, or cannot definitively be determined not to have been stolen, as a result of a recent theft of information from TJX's computer networks.

The case has been settled. TJX has agreed, among other things, to provide credit monitoring services, which included $20,000 in identity theft insurance for each of the approximately 455,000 Class members whose driver's license, military identification, state identification, or social security numbers may have been compromised.

Vantage Travel Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP filed a class action against Vantage Travel Service arising out of the cancellation of a cruise, alleging that Vantage breached its contract with its customers and violated the Massachusetts consumer protection statute. After defendants' motion to dismiss was denied, the case settled. The settlement provided the class members with a choice of a cash payment or a free cruise.

Southwestern Bell Overcharge Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP filed a class action entitled Smilow v. Southwestern Bell, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, against Southwestern Bell (doing business as Cellular One) for overcharging for calls. The complaint alleged that Cellular One customers were billed for calls contrary to the terms of their Cellular One contracts, and in violation of the Telecommunications Act and Chapter 93A of the Mass. General Laws. The court initially certified the suit as a class action but later decertified the class. Shapiro Haber & Urmy  LLP successfully appealed the decertification order to the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and subsequently obtained a settlement on behalf of the class.

Credit Card Processing Overcharging Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP successfully represented several businesses in a class action against a major credit card processing company alleging that the company overcharged merchants with respect to the rental of credit card processing equipment. The firm recovered 100% of the damages owed to the class members, with interest.

Hospital Records Overcharging Lawsuit

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP represented the Boston Law firm of Lubin & Meyer, P.C. in Lubin & Meyer P.C., et al. v. Hospital Correspondence Corporation, et al. in a lawsuit against numerous Massachusetts hospitals and their copy services, alleging excessive per-page copy charges for medical records requested by law firms representing current and former patients. The firm successfully argued that the charges violated a Massachusetts law regarding payment of a "reasonable" fee. The case was settled for a substantial reduction in the copy service fees. A similar case pending in Ohio likewise was settled.

Franchise Fraud

In Olivo v. American Fluid Technologies, et al., Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP obtained a substantial settlement for a group of small businesses that were defrauded in the purchase of antifreeze recycling franchises. The group sued the franchisor, the manufacturer of the recycling equipment, and the manufacturer of the chemicals used in the recycling process. Through an intensive review of documents and depositions of numerous company officials, the firm obtained evidence that the defendants knew, almost from the time they began to sell the franchises, that the recycling process did not produce the promised product.

SmithKlineBeecham

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP served as liaison counsel in this antitrust action against SmithKilneBeecham with respect to its brand name drug Relafen. The complaint alleged that defendants fraudulently obtained patents for Relafen and then wrongfully used these invalid patents to wrongfully block competitors from introducing generic competition for Relafen. The case has been settled for $175 million.

Lupron Marketing Litigation

Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP served as liaison counsel in a number of consolidated actions against Abbott Laboratories, Takeda Chemical Industries LTD, and TAP Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. The cases alleged that these companies fraudulently inflated the price paid for the brand name drug Lupron, which is used for treatment of prostate cancer, at the expense of Medicare beneficiaries and third-party payors such as insurers. The case has been settled for $150 million.